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THE LIBRARY OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF 
NORTH CAROLINA 


THE COLLECTION OF 
NORTH CAROLINIANA 
PRESENTED BY 


E. Merton Coulter 


Cp32h.1 
187 


iu 


THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION 


JOHN! ELLIS COULTER COLLECVION 
BBL A947 


The Policy of the Democratic Leatlers is t0 stanehite 
: . the Poor as Well as the literate Man. 


Read What General Cox, Chairman Simmons, Herriot 
Clarkson, and €. B. Watson, all Prominent Demo- 
crats, Declare to he the Policy of Their Party. 


“The Washington Post of September 2d contained an 
interview with General Cox, declaring it to be the policy of 
the Democratic party in North Carolina to adopt methods 
similar to the South Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi 

election laws. This went unchallenged until the 11th of 


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_ocratic State Executive Comittee, sk aes the follow- 
ing denial : : " 


- Letter C General W. R. Cor. 


* My attention has | been called to the fol- 
“Jowing card, which, Iam informed, is being 
“ circulated by. on Sak State Com- 
LMMIiLee + eo 


“ Read and Talke Warning! Gen. W. R. 
“Cox, Secretary of the United States Senate, 
“in an interview published in the Washing- 
veto Post, September 2d, 1898, gives away 

“ the secret of the De: yocratic policy iz North 
AL Carolina, in the following words: ‘With a 
“return of the Democrats to power in North 
“Carolina, I think it is safe to predict that 
“ measures will be adopted, as they have been 
‘in South Carolina, Louisiana, and Missis- 
“ sippi, looking to the elimination of a large 
oe per cent. of the ignorant ang G pargteeht 


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‘September, when Gen. ‘Cox, under the} pressure of the Dem: 


“vote.” Gen. Cox is the author of the cele- 
‘brated telegram : ‘Hold Robeson and save 
(othe States) 7 

“The language employed and the idea con. 
“veyed is that of the interviewer, and not my 
“own, I made no such statement as con- 
tained | in the quoted extract. : 

“Tn the hotel corridor, the interviewer was 
“stating to me the contents of an article in 
“the Atlanta Constitution, in regard to the 
“deplorable _ political condition in North 
“ Carolina. 

‘In preparing the interview, after leaving 
“me, from which the above purports to be 
‘Can extract, together with other interviews 
‘for the Post, the reporter evidently fell into 
“the error of confounding what was passing 
“in his mind, with what was said by me. I 
“was not familiar with the election laws of 
“the States referred to, but did know the Con- 
“stitution of North Carolina expressly forbids 

“the Legislature from passing any laws dis- 
‘franchising any individual or class of persons. 
“¢ And even should the Legislature be disposed 
“to do so, it would be prevented by our 


“ Constitution. 
“(Signed) Wm. R. Cox.” 


‘His ignorance of the Mississippi election law is sublime. ~ 
When this denial appeared it was called to the attention of © 


Mr. E. B. Smith, a Democrat, and reporter for the Wash- 


ington Post, who wrote the interview, and he gave the fol- 


lowing letter, which is now on file at Republican Head- 
quarters : 


Letter of E. B. Smith, Democrat, Reporter for the 


Washington Post. 


“ WASHINGTON POST, 
‘WasHIncton, D.C., 4‘ 
“Sept. 13th, 1898. _ 
“DEAR SiR: In an interview published — 
‘with Gen. W. R. Cox, appearing in the Wash- 
“ineton Post of Sept. 2d, written by me, he 
“is quoted as saying that if the Democrats 


- “return to power in North Carolina, it is safe 

_ “to predict that measures will be adopted, as 
“they have been in other States, looking toa 
“restriction of the franchise by eliminating . 
ae  “alarge per cent. of the ignorant and purchas- 

— + abile vote’ I will say about this, that while 

“YT do not declare that they were the exact 

‘words of Gen. Cox, yet am absolutely sure 

‘* that in sentiment they accurately represented | 

‘* his conversation with me, and 1 was greaily 

ns ee ised at his denial of thetr authentecity, 

| OW ey ae | | 

M(Signed) EK. B. SMITH.” 


What says Gen. Cox to this? 
Abundant proof can be furnished that Gen. Cox voiced 
_ the policy of the Democratic party in this State. We copy 
from the Charlotte Observer of July ay eos) the follow- 
fi " ing editorial : 


“THE MISSISSIPPI LAW VALID 


fe ae It is worthy ‘of note that “the Supreme Court of the 

_ “United States has rendered a decision sustaining the valid- 
_ “ity of the Mississippi election law, which was designed 
_ “to protect the State from a VICIOUS and ILLITERATE 


PN am ie ee A 


_ “Supreme Court holds that as it applies to whites as well 
“as to blacks it is Constitutional. 

_ “This means that the State has the right to impose an 
_ “educational restriction among other QUALIFICATIONS, 
"and the decision opens the way to an improved condition 
_ “in the local government of many Southern communities, 


a and UNJUST system of dig oe but will prove an edu- 


“by the vicious vote. 
te has a Sos in his ae and who has an 


_ “element. The law debars all illiterate voters, and the | 


“for it will not only bring about the relief from a peculiar — 


The man of property and influence 


“cannot read the ba in his pia neko is perhaps ji 
“out of the Penitentiary or off the chain gang, ey whose _ 
“vote annuls the one that went before. 

“Phe South has endured this condition of affairs so one 
“that it has ceased to be a matter of comment, and has been 
“accepted as a matter of fact. Protest ceased years ago, 
“Because it was found that protests were in vain, but this 
“ decision of the Supreme Court shows that there i ig: tenegae « 
“ahead if our people desire to secure it in the way indicated. ay 


Men of ‘Property and Influence” Vote, While Poor at 
Humble Men, White and Colored, are bisfranchised, 


Ohatlotte Observer in its issue of Raine I 5 1898, in 
undertakes to sustain General Cox in his denial. yee 

Chairman Simmons, in his speech ‘at iiveshar on the a 
18th of August last, outlined the Democratic policy, and is” 
in full accord with General Cox’s interview. Herriot — 
Clarkson, the Democratic candidate for the House of Rep 
resentatives in Mecklenburg, recently declared the same eM 
thing in Charlotte publicly. Hon. C. B. Watson, late Demo- 
cratic candidate for Governor in 1896, made substantially 
the same statement toa prominent Populist in the Suprae a 
Court Library last March. ee 

Beyond controversy the Democratic policy will be, if ‘Hee: ree 
get control of the Legislature, to resort to the “ball -pens oe 
and other fraudulent methods, to impose, by constitutional — 
amendment, an educational with other qualifications, upon 
the right of suffrage, and restore their ring-rulein this State. 

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty! Let no man be | 
deceived by their hypocrisy and the crocodile tears they are 
now profusely shedding.’ ‘The man of property and influ- 
ence can always take care of himself, but the laboring _ 
masses should hold to the ballot for self-protection. 

This policy of the Democratic party strikes down th 
poor and illiterate white and colored voters alike, and their 
howl of ‘negro’? is only to blind the poor atnd illiterate 
voter, while they rivet forever the chains of political slaver, r 
upon ‘them. ; | 


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